Sunday, March 06, 2011

What's Left in The Binnacle Ultra-Short Competition

Those of us who were lucky enough to be chosen to be published in The Binnacle's Seventh Annual Ultra-Short Competition just received our stories in the mail in a small blue box decorated with Jean Rauox's painting "Young Woman Reading a Letter." Inside the box were story cards, each with a story on one side and the biography of the author on the other. Totally cool. Emily Jiang's story, "Wedding Song" took top prize in prose, Toni Giarnese won in poetry, while Bunny Richards received the University of Maine at Machias Student Prize. The rest of us are published with Honorable Mention--and an honor it is. Please visit The Binnacle at Facebook and check to find out when the Kindle edition will be ready.

You can buy...

Rattle of Want

Pomegranate Stories

Click book cover to go to Amazon

FEAR

Fear freezes creativity. Failure cracks the ice. You can let yourself slip into the cold water or you can grapple for purchase and scream for help until you are once again donning your ice skates and cutting an elegant figure-eight. -Gay Degani

What is Flash Fiction?

Flash fiction is to traditional short stories what lightning is to a storm… Thunder, rain, sleet, wind and lightning are all part of the excitement of a full blown nor’easter or afternoon thunderstorm. The rush of hard rain opens our eyes; its steady drum on the roof soothes us until that first roll of thunder raises our pulse; lightning makes us anticipate and 1-2-3 count. Then rain again and we wait for another loud crack, more electrical fireworks, the clouds to clear, the skies to blue. A good storm is filled with promise, surprise, fear, suspense, relief, joy, and sometimes sadness. So is a good story. -Gay Degani

And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
~Shakespeare